Nature interpreted through the eyes of the artist is the recurring theme for Douglas Atwill. Atwill's outdoor still lifes are exuberant and his tactile renderings of flowers give the impression that the artist could not wait to put paint onto canvas. His loose brushwork and bold colors infuse a joyous energy into his acrylic paintings.
Known as one of the Southwest's most accomplished painters of garden scenes and the regional landscape, Atwill has turned his home into a legend amongst the gardening crowd. Atwill is always within a few steps of the things that lend his life its greatest moments of pleasure: his easel and a nearby table piled high with a messy accumulation of paints and brushes and his gardening tools.
Mid-June, the point at which the blooming behind Atwill's walls and fences reaches its zenith, marks the time when he begins his annual ritual of plein-air painting. This, in combination with photographing his labors of love, create the images that speak to us with the warmth and energy of "young" summer.